Known and conventional apparatus and methods of drying such items as clothes use electric or gas power to generate the heat used in drying the clothes. The use of electrical or gas power makes the operation of these prior art devices very expensive. In these prior art devices, the drum is invariably encased within a housing and does not have sufficient orifices in its end and lateral walls to enable these rotating drums to be used effectively for drying clothes solely by open air and solar energy. These devices and disadvantageous in that they are expensive to operate, and they consume important energy resources. Typical examples of these are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 45,521, Price; 2,752,694, McCormick; 2,814,130, Cayot; and 3,584,393, Menk.
Other known and conventional apparatus for drying clothes involve a rotating framework. However, these devices are merely facilitate the hanging of the clothes on each of the members of the frame and do not rotate for the purpose of drying or tumble drying the clothes. The drying operation of these devices is the same as that in a simple clothesline. Typical examples of these are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 29,151, Ferguson; 141,064, McMahon; and 1,474,281, Needler.
The prior art has also suggested the use of solar energy for use in drying various items. However, none of these devices involve a rotating drum to effect tumble drying of the items. Typical examples of these solar energy operated dryers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 281,084, Kirkland; 1,073,729, Barnard; 1,362,216, Barnard et al; and 4,045,880, Steffen.